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Tinted my tail lights

32K views 46 replies 25 participants last post by  Slime 
#1 ·
Earlier this year I tinted the tails on my Buick and I really like how they came out. They went from a lipsticky red color to a deep ruby that almost matches the paint color. Before and after...
before small.jpg

after small.jpg


I decided to do the tails on the Astro and I think it came out pretty nice. Some cars and car colors look good with darker tint, for mine I decided on a real moderate tint, just enough to tone down the color to a nice deep ruby red. The other plus is after clear-coating and buffing they have a real jewel-like appearance.

Here's a before pic with the stock tails, really dull and that lipsticky red color:
before.jpg


Here's an after pic; I had a hard time getting true colors with the light outside today but this one is not bad.
after1.jpg


Another pic, you can see how much better they look buffed out.
after2.jpg

I've done a few sets of these now, and this time I took a lot of pics. If anyone is interested I might write up a how-to.
 
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#6 ·
On the Buick, it looks like you tinted the surround trim as well?
I painted that bright trim with body color. It was not easy finding the right process to paint stainless steel trim, but I finally found something that worked. Everything I tried could be easily scraped off with a fingernail. I finally got a real durable finish using Duplicolor adhesion promoter as a primer after sanding the stainless, then sprayed with the body color then clear-coat.

I'll sort through my pics and work on that how-to for the tail lights.
 
#9 ·
As promised, coming up is my write-up on how to tint your tail lights. Here's some examples I pulled off the internet for different shades of tint. Don't worry about what you've read about one or two or three coats of tint, you can tint as light or as dark as you like.

Here is my Astro before any tinting, dull and red:
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This is my Astro after tinting. In this case I wanted just enough tint to deepen the color so it's a pretty light application. The other result of this is the beautiful finish from the light being smoothed out and clear-coated.
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This Mustang is just slightly darker yet:
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This is my own Buick, I wanted to get dark enough to blend with the paint color.
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This Lincoln is pretty dark but it looks nice with the black paint.
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This truck is about as black as you can get. With this dark tint I would start to worry how much light can get through.
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Before thinking about tinting too dark, check out your local/state laws. Don't want to get anyone pulled over!

This same process applies to smoking headlight lenses (I don't like tinted headlights!) and marker lights. And I remember Tex Star posted about using a Krylon product for making amber signal lights. Same process...
 
#10 ·
I've read a lot about this and watched a lot of peoples videos and I've seen some really beautiful jobs, but I've probably seen many more horribly botched jobs. I think the bad jobs are a result of: A) poor or rushed preparation of the surface to be finished and/or B) lack of patience in working through the steps.
This method is from what I've read about tinting, good and bad, and my own trial and error having worked through a number of these. If you take your time and follow the steps here there's no reason you can't get good results.

The material for tinting is VHT Nite Shades. You should be able to find it at the big auto parts stores. One can will be enough to tint all your vehicles and a number of your friends and family.

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For clear coating buy a can of whatever automotive clear your a/p store has, like Duplicolor. Stay away from the Walmart Krylon clears, they are more of a crafts finish. I have seen on the internet a package deal with a Duplicolor clear.

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Buy an assorted pack of wet/dry sandpapers as well as some sheets of the finer grades: 600, 800, 1500, 2000 grit. Also have on hand some solvent like mineral spirits or lacquer thinner for surface prep, and if the tint goes on horribly wrong you can wipe it off with solvent and start over. You should have a few micro-fiber or lint-free wipes on hand.

Remove the tail lights from the van. There are two screws each, behind the doors, then they will pivot out and away from the van. The bulb holders twist counter-clockwise to remove. The top and bottom bulb holders have a catch that needs to be depressed to twist them out.

Tape up the bulb openings on the back of the lights to keep out moisture from wet sanding.

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The lights have raised lettering molded in. Use a single edge blade to slice across and cut off the lettering. be careful not to dig in with the blade and leave a nick.

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Use the edge of the blade to scrape whats left down level with the surface.

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All the raised surfaces should be scraped smooth and level.

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There's a lot of imperfection in the molded surface and we want it nice and flat so I start pretty aggressive, wet sanding with 220 grit. I like to use a pan or tray with a fresh supply of water and keep the sanding surface really wet, dipping your paper frequently. You may notice depressions in the surface where the plastic parts are molded together. If necessary, scrape them with the single edge blade and level with 220 grit. Dry the surface occasionally to check progress, you don't want any shiny areas. Sand until the entire surface is uniformly dull. Make sure you've sanded into all the surfaces and corners of the reverse lens.

Move on to 320 grit to take out the scratches from the previous sanding. Wipe the surface dry to inspect progress. Make sure there are no scratches left from the previous 220 grit, you will see any scratches easily against the sheen of the surface.

Repeat the process with 400 grit, then 600 grit, each time wiping dry to make sure you've removed any scratches from the previous sanding grit. I've had good results just sanding to 600 grit but it certainly wouldn't hurt to go finer. When you're done sanding dry the light and inspect it carefully. It should have an even, dull appearance all over. Any sanding scratches showing from earlier, heavier grits will show through the finished job.

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Clean up the light with some fresh water. Clean behind all the edges, and clean and blow out the recess around the reverse light. Next clean the surface with a lint free cloth and some mineral spirits or solvent to remove any fingerprints or oils.

I like to mask the reverse light so it doesn't get tinted. This masking will be removed before clear coating. Also mask off the black part where the lights screw to the van.

8.jpg


The lights are ready for spray. Set up in a well ventilated area and so that you won't need to move the lights. I like to spray them together so they get the same tint coverage. Give the lights one last wipe with solvent, dry them with a lint-free wipe, and check that they are absolutely clean.

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You should be spraying on a nice dry day. High humidity in the air will cause bad results with fogging and fisheyes. Any temperature above about 50f is okay as long as the humidity is low.
Shake the heck out of the can of Nite Shades, it has black particles suspended in clear and you want them really well mixed. Before you spray the lights, do a couple test sprays on a sheet of cardboard or something to get the feel of the spray and the coverage.
If you move the spray too quickly you will get choppy coverage, like I've shown on this fire extinguisher:

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If you move the spray too slowly you will get too dark too quick and may get runs in the surface:

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Shake your can some more then start to spray off the piece to clear the tip from sputtering, then pass your spray across the piece and continue spraying off the end.
The biggest mistake I've seen in applying the tint is trying to do too much in one coat. I saw a video where the guy sprayed over and over the piece, his first coat was already too black and probably runny. I like to do one pass only for each part of the light. Start with one pass low to get the edges, then go around and do the same to the other side. Finish with one pass across the top to fill it in. That's it for one coat. Don't worry if the tint looks slightly uneven, the subsequent coats will blend it together. Don't worry about the surface texture, it will probably look dry and orange-peely.

Turn the can over and clear the spray tip. Wipe the tip clean with some solvent. Shake up the can between coats.

Wait about 3-5 minutes and spray another coat. Always spray a little to clear the tip before starting the coat. Try to vary your spray pattern slightly from the first coat to even out coverage. This is my lights after two coats and a quick third one just across the ends of the lights. For comparison I've shown the pre-sprayed pic.

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Continue with additional coats after 3-5 minutes. Keep a careful eye on how much tint you've applied, it's easy to go too dark. If you feel you've botched the tint, get out the solvent and wipe them clean, and you can start over.

When your happy with the darkness of the tint, let the lights sit for 10-20 minutes to set up. Then using the tip of a sharp knife, pull away the masking from the reverse light. Be very careful not to touch the painted surface.

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Start right away with clear coats. You can spray a little heavier coat now, just avoid getting runs. Don't worry about surface texture either, you don't need a smooth wet coat because it's all going to get wet sanded. Only wait long enough between coats to let the surface firm up, again like 3-5 minutes. I like to do a minimum of 3 coats of clear. Make sure your coats cover the edges and ends of the lights.

With all the clear coats done, leave the lights to dry for an hour or so. If need be they can be carefully reinstalled in the van. We need to wait at least 24 hours for final sanding.

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Final wet sanding is very delicate because if you burn through the clear you will get into the tint and it can't be touched up. Start with 800 grit and keep the paper really wet. Work on only the flat areas. Dry the light often and check your progress. Do an area at a time, and be very careful of the edges and corners. Move on to 1500 grit pretty soon and start to very carefully work out to the edges and onto the corners. Lots and lots of water! Finish detail sanding with 2000 grit, then do a complete careful sanding of the light with the 2000. When your done and dried it should be uniformly dull with no shiny orange peel.

At this point you should be able to easily hand buff with a fine compound and a micro fiber wipe to a jewel like appearance. I like to use an 8" muslin wheel on the grinder with a super fine compound lightly applied to the wheel. Finish them off with a coat of wax and put them back on your van. Enjoy your new lights! :thumbup:

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#12 ·
Nice write up man! I'm planning on doing my Vic's corners, tails, and back up lights. Going to practice on my $100 Van first! :rockon:
 
#15 ·
Very nice but would it look that much worse if i skipped the 600, 800, 1500, 2000 grit and went straight for the 2000 grit just to rough em up to get the night shades to stick , i just ask because i dont have the patience and hate sanding.
I dont really need a show room look but would like them darker.
Thanks
 
#16 ·
Webcat,
That's a good question... for me it starts with knocking down all the raised letters and leveling the surface, which leads to all the sanding. For what you're talking about, the Nite Shades may bond to the surface okay without any sanding if you scrub them down with solvent, or alternatively you could spray them first with adhesion promoter. I would try it out first on a junk light.
You're still going to run into problems wet sanding the clear because of all the raised lettering. If you're good you may be able to spray a wet clear coat that wouldn't need finish sanding.
 
#17 ·
webcat said:
Very nice but would it look that much worse if i skipped the 600, 800, 1500, 2000 grit and went straight for the 2000 grit just to rough em up to get the night shades to stick , i just ask because i dont have the patience and hate sanding.
I dont really need a show room look but would like them darker.
Thanks
Sanding plastic is FAST.

Sand each finer grit at 90 degrees to the previous grit. Each successive grit
knocks down the scratch pattern created by the previous one and it creates it's own,
new, finer set of scratches.

Should only take a few seconds per grit.

When you get to the finest grit, it's imparting it's own VERY fine scratch pattern,
but the resolution of the scratches is smaller than we can see.

The big "trick" is to start with a relatively coarse grit. Otherwise, the fine paper will
scratch the smooth spots appropriately, but it won't knock down the bigger marks,
scratches and bumps.

When I sand plastic like guitar pick guards, I start with 150 and go to 12,000.

It becomes REALLY smooth. Don't go to 12,000 for paint prep. Stop where
Kenny suggests at the comparitively more coarse grit.

It's probably VERY safe to sand tail light lenses because they're thick,
strong and colored the same all the way through the plastic. No risk
of "sand through".

Lump
 
#23 ·
Not sure what solvent you could use that wouldn't melt the plastic in the process. You could wet sand it off and then either re do it, or if you want it gone, you could then spray it with clear or buff and polish.
 
#25 ·
AmericanMade717 said:
Now that's a top notch body shop quality job right there, very nice job! It's nice to see someone actually tint their taillights the correct way instead of butchering the whole job.
:ty:

does anyone know how to take it off? i sprayed mine wayyyy to dark
When I had to redo one of my lights I first used a single edge blade as a scraper to remove the finish, then back to sanding to get off the last bits of tint/finish, and prep for the new coats. The blade got like 95% of my messed up coats.
 
#26 ·
kennyj said:
When I had to redo one of my lights I first used a single edge blade as a scraper to remove the finish, then back to sanding to get off the last bits of tint/finish, and prep for the new coats. The blade got like 95% of my messed up coats.
Single edge blade? I try to use as many blades as possible, so I go to the bathroom and grab my Gillette Fusion Power. :rofl:

No seriously though, after you get the tint paint stuff to lift up with the blade, I would use water along with the blade to minimize scratching. and MAKE SURE the blade is brand new, if you drop it on the ground get a new one. Worst thing for you would be a tiny sharp corner sticking out and scratching the living hell out of your light every time you make a pass.
 
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